Charity

Thirty-five year old Chris Todd has attempted to “walk” across 106 kilometers (66 miles) of open sea in a giant hamster wheel-like raft dubbed Tredalo. Unfortunately, the plan to cross the Irish Sea – leaving from Wales and arriving on the east coast of Ireland in the South of Dublin – didn’t quite go to plan. Harsh weather conditions forced Todd to abort the mission after approximately eight and a half hours and 42 kilometers (26 miles) into the journey, when he encountered rudder problems.
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BRIGHT Products has created a new solar-powered lamp with the intended goal of bringing more light to developing nations. Not only that, the lamp can be used as a mobile phone charger through the built-in micro USB cord.
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Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson, whose body of work is mostly based on light installations, last week presented a small solar powered light during the World Economic Forum in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Olafur collaborated with engineer Frederik Ottesen to create Little Sun, which they hope can help bring indoor lighting to those people who lack access in developing countries.
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Although it can be considered as a basic human need alongside food, water and shelter, 1.6 billion people all over the world have no access to stable and safe source of light. It's a situation that two bright young Architecture graduates are aiming to combat with the LuminAID solar-powered lantern. Like the Solar Pebble initiative, the LuminAID lantern is designed to address dependence on kerosene lamps in the developing world and its extremely lightweight and easy to transport inflatable design is also targeted at use in disaster relief situations ... plus it makes a very handy addition to your camping kit.
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Across Africa, along with other parts of the world, there are many villages that are inaccessible by road for at least part of the year. The only reasonably fast way of getting medicine and other essential goods to these locations is to fly them in by conventional aircraft. Such an approach can be costly, however, and requires the services of a trained pilot. Matternet, a startup company currently based out of Silicon Valley's Singularity University is proposing an alternative - a network of ground stations for small unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), which would inexpensively deliver payloads to remote communities.
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Jerry Garcia was ranked 13th by Rolling Stone magazine in its "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time" feature and Garcia’s band The Grateful Dead was ranked 55th by Rolling Stone in its “Greatest Artists of all Time.” Now Garcia’s “Lucky 13” custom Alembic guitar is to be auctioned for charity on eBay on June 5. The recipient charity, Amicus Foundation, is run by sometime Grateful Dead member Matt Kelly (that's Jerry and Matt at work in the piccie) who now works full-time for charity. All proceeds will provide educational opportunities and assistance to hill tribe refugees along the Thai/Burmese border and to underprivileged Thai communities. Go to it deadheads – a piece of GD history and a good cause!
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For those of us who live in the developed world, internet access has become pretty much a given. It’s become so ubiquitous that we almost expect to have it at all times and in all places, but even in this “Information Age,” the majority of the world’s population lacks access to the internet – either because service isn’t available where they are, or they can’t afford it. Kosta Grammatis has a plan, however. Through his charity group ahumanright.org, Grammatis aims to set up a network of satellites that will provide free internet access to everyone in the world. He’s starting by attempting to buy a single used satellite that’s already in orbit and moving it to a location above a developing country.
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When you search for just about anything on the Internet, it seems like a Wikipedia entry on that subject is almost always amongst the top ten hits. Despite rumors of dissent within its ranks, the encyclopedic website is one of the largest single repositories of knowledge in the world. So, with that in mind, what do you do if you want to bring a significant portion of the information on the Internet to people who can’t afford net access? You load a searchable offline version of Wikipedia onto a US$20 8-bit computer, that they can watch through their TVs. That’s what computer consultant Braddock Gaskill has done with his Humane Reader, which he hopes will find a place in homes, schools and libraries in developing nations.
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There's no doubt in our mind that Spencer Conway's solo circumnavigation of Africa by motorbike will offer more than enough dramatic material for a hollywood film, if not at least a television reprise of Ewan McGregor and Charlie Boorman's Long Way Down. At time of writing, Spencer has been on the road for 134 days, 23 hours, 58 minutes and counting, since leaving Biddenden, Kent on November 1st 2009. His route will take him clockwise around the outer countries of Africa and will cover 60,000km in total. The project, sponsored by Swaziland-born Richard E. Grant aims to raise UK£28,000 (US$42,000) for charity organization Save the Children, and so far he has traveled across 28 countries, through 30 borders, and biked 27,000km.
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One of the key factors in running a successful charity is helping the donors feel as connected as possible to the communities they're assisting, and see the difference they can help create. It's part of the feel-good cycle and evidence that the money is going to good use - which is why this is such a fascinating idea: The Kopernik is a next-gen online charity initiative that lets you choose exactly which projects and technologies you wish to put your money towards, then shows you the results in video form as projects are completed. It's also quite an amazing repository of emerging survival and sustainable living technology - from self-adjustable eyeglasses to clean drinking water devices and much more.
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